PETER Hook and the Light have been bringing the iconic music of Joy Division and New Order to venues worldwide for the better part of eight years now.

Last Friday at Middlewich FAB Festival he performed a headline set full of classic songs from his illustrious career.

The opening half of the set was dominated by Joy Division songs with Digital, She’s Lost Control and Transmission receiving the biggest ovations.

A personal highlight during the first half of the set was Disorder, the opening track to the iconic album ‘Unknown Pleasures’.

It has always felt like the archetypal Joy Division song, a driving drum beat punctuated with disjointed guitar parts over the deep vocal delivery from Peter Hook.

All of this culminated in a performance which felt as close to watching Joy Division as any fan could possibly get.

Despite Hook’s voice being very well suited to the Joy Division songs, to the point where they sounded strikingly similar to the record, it was the New Order songs that managed to get a big response from everyone watching.

After requests to play Atmosphere Peter joked that ‘he didn’t think anyone would want to hear it’, so he had Age of Consent prepared instead.

The iconic bassline intro signalled the start of one of the highlights of the performance as the festival really came to life.

Blue Monday was a big hit with the audience as well as the gig soon developed more of a party atmosphere.

The New Order songs offered a chance for Peter Hook and the Light to show off their musicianship, a selection of the songs were extended with long periods of the band just jamming on stage.

These moments were some of the most impressive of the performance, it was clear to see both why Peter wanted to form this band and why they have had so much success with these shows.

I was quite surprised by Peter’s stage presence, rock poses were a frequent occurrence as drew a response from those lucky enough to be in the front row, he really seemed to love his role as frontman.

One of the very few disappointments with the set was how he did not end up playing World in Motion.

With the World Cup starting the day before the gig, it would have been a great opportunity to get everyone involved.

During the break for the encore several people could be heard singing the chorus and it felt like an inevitability that he was going to perform it.

The highlight of the show was undoubtedly Love Will Tear Us Apart. The legendary post punk song, often regarded as one of the best singles of all time by a British band, had everyone on their feet from the first chord to the last.

The extended chorus at the climax gave everyone one last chance to have a sing a long into the night and was the ideal way to end a very impressive set from one of the legendary figures of the Manchester music scene.